ABSTRACT
Wildlife watching tourism is an increasingly important niche within nature-based tourism. As this niche continues to grow, care must be taken how tourists interact with the natural environment. One way to manage such interactions is through high-quality guiding, which has been acknowledged as a key element of wildlife watching tourism. The guide’s role was first conceptualized by Cohen (1985), who divided it into the instrumental, social, interactional, and communicative components. While several studies adopt Cohen’s framework, it is also argued that there are elements to nature guiding which are not fully covered (Randall & Rollins, 2009). In this chapter, we investigate the guide’s role in the context of wildlife watching tourism, using Cohen’s framework as a starting point. We compare musk ox safaris in Dovrefjell, Norway to Polar Bear tourism activities in Svalbard, Norway and Churchill, Canada using data from travel party interviews, participant observations and content analysis of online reviews. Findings reveal two additional components to guiding wildlife experiences: The uncertainty component and the encounter component. Based on these findings, we suggest an expanded model of the guide’s role when guiding wildlife watching tourism activities.
